Aim to make Newlands our fortress: Olly Stone

MI Cape Town started their campaign in SA20 with an emphatic win over Paarl Royals on their home ground at Newlands, Cape Town. The Rashid Khan-led side – which will now be playing two consecutive games this weekend – is aiming to finish on the winning side and stay unbeaten at home.

MICT play Durban Super Giants on Friday and then take on Joburg Super Kings on Saturday. 

While interacting with media persons on Thursday (January 12), MI CT pacer Olly Stone said his team is aiming to win all three games at home and make it a fortress.

“You go out there to win every game. Obviously, having the first three games here at Newlands is massive. Hopefully, we can make this a fortress and learn from the other night and get two more wins on the board. And if another bonus point comes our way, we'll look to take it,” Stone said.

Throwing light on his team's plans and preparations for the doubleheaders, the England quick – who picked up a couple of wickets in the tournament opener - said the team sat down with the coaching staff and prepared strategies against every team. 

“Yes, we have two tough games coming up in as many days. We (the team) sat down and watched the games (of opposition players) in the team room. We discussed about how we might go about (in our strategy against) different players. We've seen how dangerous certain players in those teams can be. So, in the build-up tomorrow and the day after, we are going to create a few plans that might work. Obviously, you can't be dependent on one plan, so we have a few strategies about how to go about different players and different situations,” Stone said. 

The right-arm-quick also claimed that his team will make plans keeping the pitch in mind and stated that back-to-back victories at the weekend will put hosts in a strong position early in the competition. 

“Then obviously we talked about how the wicket will play the other night and how we're going to make most of it going into these games. Both the games are big, and if we come out on the right side of them, it puts us in a great position going into the tournament,” he added further.

The opening game at Newlands was sold out and the English cricketer claimed that his team is looking forward to the fans supporting them in big numbers in the big games at the weekend.

"The fans were brilliant here the other night. The atmosphere and the buzz they created around the ground just make you go out there and perform (your best). So it's going to be a big couple of games for us and looking forward to seeing them cheer us out in big numbers again," he signed off.